Ray Pride

Carroll Ballard visited Chicago last week in an attempt to find an audience for his sixth feature, a beautifully crafted story called "Duma." The studio tested the movie, according to the director of "The Black Stallion," and couldn't come up with a way to market it. Like all of his handful of movies, "Duma" is solid, graceful, gracious filmmaking, an exquisitely shot and edited adventure between a South African schoolboy (Alex Michaeleatos) and an orphaned cheetah he adopts, naming it "Duma," despite the admonitions of his parents (Campbell Scott, Hope Davis) that it would someday have to return to the wild. Soon, he'll be lost with the cat, out in the wilds, and it will be a long way home, lessons will be learned--yet "Duma" is a complete delight. Ballard's had many, many dream projects go by the wayside, including "Huckleberry Finn," he told me on a recent visit, with a warm smile and dancing eyes as he described scenes he'd like to shoot. In the modern age, however, a movie like "Duma" gets a second chance with this Chicago test release only because of its producer, veteran television director John Wells, and rumors that a certain bigfoot movie critic loves it, too. Here is what the measure ought to be: even if Ballard's career has consisted mostly of stories dealing with animals--"How'd I ever get in that fucking game?" he joked, shaking his head and grinning--"Duma" proves again that he is one of American filmmaking's most astute, intuitive, intelligent, generous resources, as adept at faces as landscapes, and one who probably couldn't make an ugly composition or cut unless there was a gun to his head. Still, there are a few crosscuts with Mom in search of Lost Son that clang. Studio notes, Ballard says. "Duma" is a lovely treat.

"Duma" opens Friday. A cheetah's the fastest of the cats, but this limited engagement may run faster if you don't go right out and see it.

(2005-08-02)

Also by Ray Pride

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Close encounters of the 9/11 kind
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Being Samantha Stephens
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